Dell Canada Inc. faces a lawsuit filed by an Ontario man on behalf of Canadians who own certain models of Inspiron notebook computers with purported defects that cause complete system failure, the plaintiff's lawyer announced Friday.
The class-action suit, filed in Ontario Superior Court with Thad Griffin of Aurora, Ont., as the lead plaintiff, alleges that design defects that make the computers susceptible to overheating and premature failure of the motherboard — one of the main components of any computer.
It also alleges that Dell knew or ought to have known of the inherent defects in the notebooks' design but nevertheless sold, marketed and distributed the notebooks in Canada.
The allegations haven't been tested in court.
A spokeswoman for Dell Inc. said in an e-mail that the company doesn't comment on pending litigation, as a matter of corporate policy.
The suit applies to Inspiron models 1100, 1150, 5100, 5150 or 5160. It seeks to have Dell Canada replace the defective computers or to cover the cost of repairs.
“The people we're hearing from are experiencing complete system failure following the overheating of the computers. Or in the alternative, the other thing we're seeing is the motherboard simply shutting down after a period of time,” Joel Rochon, a partner at Rochon Genova LLP, said in an interview..
“Generally, we're seeing these symptoms or problems occur after the warranties run out. And it would appear as though it's a systemic problem that's inherent to all of these Inspiron models. At least, that's the feedback we're getting.”
Rochon said there has been a “steady flow” of people bringing their problems to his firm, which has done a number of class-action suits.
“We've been working on the case for the last few months, pulling together the statement of claim and investigating the problems and lining up experts and that kind of thing. “ “So, I would say there's a large number of people out there who have been experiencing these problems. Time will tell, in terms of the exact numbers.”
It will take several months before the Ontario court decides whether to grant class-action status to the litigation. If it gets that status, anybody who qualifies to be a member of the class will have the opportunity to be covered by any compensation through a settlement or court order.
Rochon said there haven't been any reports of fires or personal injuries related to the Dell notebooks. And the problems covered by the suit are unrelated to the overheating Sony batteries that came to light last year with several computer makers.
Last year, Dell Inc. recalled more than four million Sony battery pack units used in its computers, as did other computer companies that used the Sony batteries.
The batteries can short circuit and have been blamed for causing some computers in which they are used to overheat.
Consultant Richard Morochove of Morochove and Associates said that excessive heat can be a problem for any computer.
“Most notebooks do tend to run hotter than desktop PCs, simply because the components are squeezed into a smaller space and there's less air circulating. But high heat is an enemy of electrical components. So if they are too hot for too long a time, they are subject to early failure.”
In trading on the Nasdaq market Dell shares fell 33 cents Friday to $26.60 (U.S.), a drop of 1.2 per cent in trading of 14.7 million shares.
